This study examines the factors that drive technology utilisation, learning and transfer among women farmers in Nigeria. It assesses both modern and indigenous technologies used in farming activities. Three states were purposively selected from the six that comprise the South West geopolitical zone of the country. Structured questionnaire was administered to 180 women smallholder farmers who were randomly selected in equal proportion across the three states. Some 128 copies of questionnaire were retrieved representing a response rate of about 71%. The study reveals that majority of the women (about 67%) use indigenous technologies while only a few (17%) and 16% use modern technologies and a combination of both respectively. Family and friends are the main source of learning indigenous technologies while extension agents are the major source of modern. The study uses spearman correlation to determine the drivers of the dependent variables. Age, level of education, years of experience and learning intensity are significantly correlated with technology utilisation at 1% level of confidence while primary occupation and learning have significant correlation with technology learning at 5% and 1% confidence level respectively. The study also reveals that farmers’ age, experience and availability of learning system are have significant correlation with technology transfer. The study advocates the introduction of need and gender-specific new technologies. There is the need for integration of indigenous technologies into research so that it can be attractive to the older women. Also, farmers should be integrated into the technology development process. This will help in sustaining the rising interest of younger women in adapting modern and indigenous technologies in agriculture. The study also advocates the need for deeper and broader interactions among key actors, such as, R&D institutions, extension agents, NGOs, CBOs and farmers on the effectiveness and variety of channels used in technology learning, utilisation and transfer. Appropriate public policy interventions should also be introduced to develop ‘smallholder-friendly’ technologies, especially among women, to curb market failures in technology adoption.

In Israel, like in most other countries, there are primarily two types of farms: small family farms and large cooperatives. In recent years, with the development of technology which reduces the need for labor and increases the need for capital, the question arises, “in today’s world, is there still a place for small family farms?” In order to answer this question, we designed a comprehensive study to test this subject from a number of perspectives (socially, culturally, etc.). This article looks at the economic aspect of this larger study and it deals with the question of the smallest possible size of a farm, that is still economically viable. The study was done for the citrus industry, one of the main agricultural industries in Israel. For the study, we estimated the partial elasticity of production for an orchard with respect to its size and found the point at which average production reached a maximum. According to accepted economic theory, this point shows the minimal size of an economically viable, independent agricultural unit. The results of the study show that in this industry, the minimum size for an economically viable farm is about 30 dunams (1 dunam = 1,000 m2 ). In Israel, the size of about half of all family farms is larger than 30 dunams. The immediate conclusion is that there is no reason to assume that an orchard run by a small family operation must be economically unviable. If small family farms adopt the correct organizational structure, not only at the stage of growing the fruit but also at the stage of marketing, it might be possible for at least some of them to be profitable and economically justified. Owners of the smallest farms can partner with their neighbors in order to reach the desired farm size.

SHAHOR T., AMDUR L., BEN SHAHAR M. 2017, WHAT IS THE SMALLEST SIZE OF A FAMILY FARM THAT IS STILL ECONOMICALLY VIABLE. A STUDY IN THE ORCHARD INDUSTRY IN ISRAEL. Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 17 ISSUE 2, PRINT ISSN 2284-7995, 323-330.

Worldwide, medicinal and aromatic plants play an important role for humanity. Thousands of medicinal plants are used across the world. Almost 300 medicinal plants are known and used in Romania. Their distribution is not uniform across the country, being depended in some cases of the presence of forest sites. The main goal of this paper was to estimate the maximum quantities of medicinal plants that could be harvested by the eight Forestry Directorates, managed by National Forest Administration Romsilva, from the eastern part of Romania. Several studies, papers, indicators and databases were taken into account. 38 medicinal plant species have potential in terms of harvesting in the Eastern Romania, with a total estimated quantity of more than 1.500 tons. The highest quantities could be harvested by Vaslui, Iași, Vrancea and Botoșani Forestry Directorates. The species with the highest potential were: bear's garlic, silver linden, elder, small-leaved lime, common nettle, large-leaved linden and common hawthorn. Harvesting and management measures aimed at protecting certain medicinal plant species were also proposed.

Despite Nigeria's plentiful agricultural resources and oil wealth, poverty is widespread in the Country and has increase since the late 1990's, neglect of rural infrastructure affects the profitability of agricultural production. The lack of roads impedes the marketing of agricultural communities prevents farmers from selling their produce at reasonable price and leads to spoilage. The study was designed to analyze the economics of groundnut processing in Akwanga Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, Nigeria. A purposive sampling technique was adopted in collecting the data used for the study from a sample of 60 groundnut processors. Descriptive statistics and gross margin analysis was used to analyzed the data collected. The study revealed that 98.3% of the respondents are females who used groundnut seed, firewood, water, labour and grinding machine in processing groundnut. The study estimated the average variable cost per 100 kg of groundnut seed per cycle at N27,487.12 while the average total revenue was estimated at N36,340.00 thus, a gross margin of N8,852.88 per 100 kg of groundnut seed per cycle. The return per naira invested (ROI) was estimated at N0.322. This indicates that groundnut processing is a profitable business in the study area. The study further revealed that majority of the respondents were constrained by inadequate capital, inadequate processing machine, risk of buying low quality raw materials, inadequate capital, unstable prices of inputs and unsteady market for products. Based on the findings the study recommended that groundnut processors should be encouraged to form cooperative societies so that they can speak with common voice in their attempt to acquire input and sell their output, affordable and accessible credit facilities should be made available to processors among others. Farmers should be persuaded to dry their groundnut seed properly before barging them to prevent the seed from spoilage.

MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) is Indian government’s flagship social safety net program. World Bank in year 2015 announced MGNREGA as world’s largest public employment guarantee program. According to an India Today (February, 2016) report, around 200 million people were provided with work under MGNREGA. The present study focuses upon 18 select Indian states’ work demand pattern under MGNREGA. Each state chosen under study has a specific geographic location, weather pattern, economy and population. Month wise data (secondary in nature) of work demand (in terms of number of persons) for years 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 for all the selected 18 states have been considered for the analysis. The research hypothesis states that there were no differences between four years’ work demand pattern for each state. The result varied significantly: twelve states had no significant differences between four years’ work demand pattern, while six states had significant differences between four years’ work demand pattern. The research outcome explains that every state has a unique work demand pattern and the work demand pattern varies depending upon factors such as weather system of the state, other available employment opportunities, poor implementation at Panchayat (village governing body) level and low awareness amongst rural people. The research outcome could help government to understand the varying nature of work demand in each state in each month. The research revelations could also assist government to improve its promotion and implementation policies to promote MGNREGA differently in those states facing work demand inconsistencies.

Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 17 ISSUE 3 Written by Elisabeta ROŞU, Ion DONA

The climate changes represent constraining factors for crops growth and development. The progressive warming of the atmosphere, resulting from the synergic action of several natural and anthropic factors, has contributed to the diminution of rainfall at soil level. The irrigation of crops, a technique by which the soil is directly supplied with a supplementary water input, besides the water received naturally, is absolutely necessary in the conditions of arid weather. The present study refers to the influence of the climate changes and the need for irrigations in Braila county, a county with a high agricultural potential, but also to the yields obtained on the main crops in irrigated and non-irrigated systems. In the period 2006-2015, the effective utilization of agricultural areas equipped with irrigation systems was maximum 33%, while in the years 2006 and 2010 respectively, the utilization degree was under 15%. In all the investigated crops, the average yields per hectare obtained under irrigated system were higher than those obtained under non-irrigated system.

The labor market in Romania and Bulgaria is influenced by the economic and social, political system, as well as the environment, that is why the supply and demand on the labor market has many times different trends. The desired labor force must be highly satisfactory and skilled, flexible and efficient, stable and loyal. The supply is influenced by the factors such as education system, vocational training, social area, even the family. The issue on the young graduates insertion on the labor market is present not only in Romania and Bulgaria, but the unemployment rate in Europe is much higher as unemployment rate in USA. The statistics regarding the unemployment shoed, in 2016, that the number of unemployed continues to increase in Europe, it is much higher than the unemployment rate in the United States of America, the image is tough especially for the young under 25 years old. Starting from aspects, the present study aims at making an analysis of the degree of young insertion on the labor market from the two neighbouring countries, and the proposal of some solutions to lead to the increase of the insertion degree and the unemployment decrease among the young graduates. The most marginalized group of young persons is the group formed of those who not only they do not have a job, but also no studies. For both countries, one of the education system priorities is the achievement of the interdependency between different components of the education system, as each individual starts in his educational path from the primary education, and passes to the following levels, or chooses other types of education (vocational).

After the wheat culture, the corn is on the second place as the most important cereal plant, having the benefits resulted from grains consumption and being a medicinal remedy for certain diseases or for the completion of the necessary essential amino-acids for our organism. The paper presents the crop technology of the pop corn crop on the sandy soil from the western part of Oltenia, its importance as a food crop, determination on expansion degree at different moistures and temperatures for the wide consumption capitalization.